


The Luger

by 50251sid



Category: The Borgias, The Borgias (2011)
Genre: Accidental Death, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gun Violence, Hostage Situations, Police, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:34:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4125657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/50251sid/pseuds/50251sid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Cesare attempts to persuade Lucrezia to go away with him, disaster occurs</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Luger

Cesare had not set out to kill anyone. All he had intended to do when he went to Lucrezia’s little suburban bungalow was persuade her to go away with him. Yes, he had grabbed her and pointed the Luger at her head and threatened to shoot her if Alfonso didn’t leave, but he had only intended to scare the boy off. What made that stupid shit attack him? Didn’t the kid realize that he, Cesare, would never have harmed Lucrezia? Now Alfonso lay in a crumpled, bloody heap on the floor and Lucrezia was doubled over him, sobbing, wailing, screaming.

“You killed him!” she shrieked, as if it were not obvious.

“I didn’t mean to,” Cesare stammered. “He came at me.”

“What could he have done to you? He couldn’t have hurt you. Not you.”

“I panicked.”

“Oh, God! Alfonso!”

She rocked back and forth over her fiancée’s body, crying hysterically.

“Sis, believe me, I didn’t intend to kill him.”

“So what? He’s dead, isn’t he? Whether you meant to kill him or not, he’s fucking dead!”

 

Cesare bent over Lucrezia, trying to raise her to her feet. Her head came up and she locked eyes with him when they both heard the screech of sirens.

“Jesus Christ! Cops are coming, Sis. Hear them?”

“Well, what did you expect, Brother? I’m sure everyone in the vicinity heard the gunshot.”

“Close the curtains. Now. Before the cops shoot me through the window.”

While Lucrezia drew the drapes, Cesare fetched a sheet from the linen closet and covered Alfonso’s body.

“Sorry, Dude,” he murmured. “I didn’t want you dead, but I couldn’t let you have her. I just couldn’t.”

 

Lucrezia parted the curtains a little and peeked outside. Police cars were everywhere. Heavily armed officers were overseeing the evacuation of homes up and down the street.

“Oh, God, Cesare. It looks like a war zone.”

“Come away from the window before the cops shoot you by mistake.”

 

Lucrezia sat on the sofa, trying not to look at the bloodstained sheet which covered her fiancée’s body. Cesare stood in front of her, trying to block her line of vision.

“Do you love Alfonso?” he asked softly.

“I care…cared…for him. I believed I could have a life with him, a good life. I knew I’d never have the passion for him that I feel for you, but I felt safe.”

“I couldn’t stand the thought of you with him. I wanted you to come away with me. We could start a new life, just you and me. A life together. A house. Kids. All the normal things.”

“That’s crazy. We could never have a normal life.”

“Sure we could. If we went away where nobody knew us.”

“Cesare, you don’t even know what normal is. Robbing houses and selling weed to school kids for a living isn’t normal.”

“I’d change. Get a job. A new start.”

“What kind of work could you get? You dropped out of college in your freshman year. You haven’t had a legal job since you were sixteen and worked at Mickey D’s.”

“There’s a lot I could do. I’m…I’m good with people. Or I could start my own business. Be my own boss.”

“Cesare, you have your head up your ass.”

“Don’t say that, Lucrezia. I need you to believe in me.”

His big green eyes pleaded with her. She held out her arms to him and he flung himself down onto her lap.

“You love me, don’t you, Sis?”

“Of course I love you. I always will.”

“Come away with me, then.”

She sighed, stroking his hair, wanting to soothe him.

“After we get out of this, I will go wherever you want.”

He raised his head from her lap and grinned at her.

“You mean it? Really?”

“Yes, really.”

He sat up and flung his arms around her, kissing her fervently. She opened her lips beneath his.

“Lucrezia.” He breathed her name. “I love you. My baby.”

His voice was soft, irresistible. He kissed her again and she tangled her fingers in his long, dark hair.

“I’ll make you happy. I promise.”

“Yes, Cesare. I know you will.”

He had begun to caress her when the shrill ring of the telephone jolted them back to the here-and-now. Cesare picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

Lucrezia almost laughed out loud. Alfonso was lying dead and she and Cesare were holed up, under siege by heavily armed S.W.A.T. police in Kevlar gear, the neighborhood evacuated and the street sealed off, and Cesare answered the phone in such an ordinary, prosaic fashion.

“Yeah,” she heard him say into the telephone. “My sister and her fiancée. No, you can’t talk to them. Yeah, I have a gun. Tell your cops to stay back. Just stay the hell back. Everyone’s okay right now. Look, I don’t want to hurt anyone, but if I have to…”

He hung up the phone and turned to her.

“I’m not going to get out of this alive, am I?”

“You’ve got to surrender, Cesare. It’s the only thing you can do.”

“I can’t, Sis. They’ll put me in jail.”

“Better that than getting killed. Think of me, who loves you.”

“I am thinking about you.”

“I need you. Alive.”

“Spending the rest of my life in prison? You on the outside pining away? That’s not living.”

“What about Charlotte? Have you thought of her, Cesare? She’s pregnant, for Christ’s sake!”

“Yeah, I know. With a kid I never wanted. Bitch told me she was on the pill. Trapped me. Expected me to marry her.”

“Oh, sure. Blame her. You bear no responsibility whatsoever.”

“I would have paid for an abortion. She refused to have one.”

“How gallant of you.”

“Well, hell, Lucrezia. She was just a lay. What would you have me do?”

“Not have gotten involved with her in the first place. Not led her on.”

“I never led her on. I never promised her shit. She knew damn well I was just using her. Stupid cunt.”

“Don’t you dare use that word!”

“But that’s what she is.” Cesare’s chin lifted stubbornly. “I didn’t force her to lay down with me. I didn’t hold a gun to her hea…” His voice trailed off as he realized what he was saying.

Lucrezia held up her hand for quiet and listened intently.

“Cesare, I hear footsteps near the back door,” she whispered.

She tiptoed into the kitchen towards the source of the sounds and screamed when she saw the silhouette of a tall, bulky man through the thin curtain hanging at the glass panel of the kitchen door.

Cesare quickly dialed the number that the police negotiator had given him.

“Very funny, motherfucker. You think I can’t see what’s going on outside? Back your men off. Get them back.”

“Cesare.” The negotiator’s voice was patient. “You haven’t hurt anyone yet. We can still work this out.”

“Bullshit. You want to kill me. You’d love to. Get that fucking cop away from the back door.”

“Cesare, look. What can I do to convince you I’m acting in good faith? How about you send your sister out. You don’t want her getting hurt, do you? Let her go.”

“She’s safer here with me. I open the door to let her out and I bet one of your trigger-happy boys puts a bullet between her eyes. No way I’m taking that chance.”

 

Lucrezia sat on the floor at Cesare’s feet and leaned her bright blonde head against his thigh.

“Cesare, please surrender. I beg you.”

He caressed her cheek.

“Sis, I can’t go to prison. They’ll lock me up for life.”

“You don’t know that. Alfonso attacked you. You were defending yourself. I’ll tell them that.”

“You will? You’ll speak for me?”

“Of course. Oh, Cesare, don’t you know how much I love you? Look, we need legal counsel. Call Dad right now and ask him to get you a lawyer.”

“You call him, Sis. He’ll respond better to you than to me.”

 

Lucrezia went to the front window and peeked through the curtain as she dialed her father’s number.

“Daddy?”

“Lucrezia! Oh, thank God!’ Rodrigo Borgia’s voice sounded agitated. “The television news just broke in with a special bulletin about a hostage situation developing. It looked like your neighborhood. I tried calling you but didn’t get an answer. I was just on my way over.”

“Daddy, there is a ‘situation’ going on. Police have surrounded my house.”

“ _What?_ ”

“There was an incident. Alfonso confronted Cesare and there was an accident with a gun and…”

“A gun! Dear God! Cesare…”

“He’s fine, Daddy. But Alfonso is…Well, Cesare had to shoot him. In self-defense.”

“He’s dead? Alfonso is dead?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“This is insane. How did this happen?”

“Cesare came here to talk to me, to try to convince me not to get married, and Alfonso got mad and attacked him. Cesare was defending himself.”

“How was a gun involved?”

“Well, Cesare had it with him.”

“Why, for God’s sake?”

“Um…he brought it to scare Alfonso.”

“Lucrezia…was Cesare pointing the gun at anyone?”

“Well, yes. He pointed it at me and told Alfonso that he would shoot me unless he left.”

“That good-for-nothing son of mine threatened you?” Rodrigo roared.

“Daddy, you know Cesare would never have hurt me. He was just trying to scare Alfonso into leaving.”

“In heaven’s name, why?”

“Cesare didn’t want me to marry Alfonso.”

“Well, he made damn sure you won’t, didn’t he? He held a gun on you and your fiancée died trying to protect you, and all you can do is defend your lunatic brother. You’re as crazy as he is.”

“Daddy, please, it wasn’t like that, exactly.”

“The boy you were going to marry is dead at your brother’s hand. He died for you, Lucrezia. For you.”

“I know, Daddy. I feel terrible about it. So does Cesare. He didn’t mean to hurt Alfonso. We have to help him now.”

_“What?”_

“Well, we can’t do anything for Alfonso anymore, but Cesare needs us.”

“Girl, I don’t know you. He murdered your fiancée. Doesn’t that matter to you?”

“Of course it matters. But Cesare is still my brother. Still your son. Daddy, he needs a lawyer. Right away.”

“A lawyer? Jesus, Lucrezia! What can you be thinking? Get out of there. Now.”

“I can’t, Daddy. I’m afraid that if I leave, the police will rush the house. Cesare may be hurt. Or killed.”

“Then persuade him to give up.”

“I’ve been trying to, Daddy. He’s afraid he’ll go to jail.”

“Of course he’ll go to jail! He killed a man!”

“”He’s still your son, Daddy. Still Cesare. You can’t have forgotten that.”

“I can’t forget all the grief and anxiety he’s caused your mother and me all his life. Reckless. Impulsive. Unthinking. He’s a sociopath. Our worst fear was that he’d hurt someone.”

“Well, if that was your fear, why didn’t you do something? Get him help?”

“We did! Don’t you remember all the doctors and counselors we sent him to? Psychologists. Psychiatrists. Social workers. One after another. He defied them all. The only one who had any influence over him was you.”

“Are you saying that this is my fault? That Alfonso is dead because of me?”

“I’m saying your mother and I tried everything we knew to help your brother. To the point of nearly neglecting you and your other brothers. I don’t know what more we can do now.”

“Get him a lawyer, Daddy. He just can’t go to prison. He’ll never survive.”

“Lucrezia, I don’t think anything can be done this time to spare him. He’s committed a terrible crime. He’ll have to face the consequences.”

“You don’t care about him.” Lucrezia’s voice rose to a shrill pitch. “You never cared about him. I hate you!”

“Lucrezia…”

“Get him a lawyer. A good one. Get him out of this. Or I’ll never forgive you.”

“We’ve lost you, haven’t we? He’s drawn you into his web and made you as sick as he is. Your mother was right. She knew things, unnatural things, were going on between the two of you but I wouldn’t listen to her. I kept denying it. Oh, God, what have I done?”

Rodrigo could picture his daughter’s sweet young face freezing into a mask of stubborn fury.

“We love each other, Daddy. Of course you wouldn’t understand. You never loved him. I’m the only one who loves him.”

“Child, he made it almost impossible for me to love him.”

“Are you saying that you won’t help him?”

“I can’t help him, Lucrezia. He’s taken a life.”

“Alfonso was nothing! Compared to Cesare, he was less than nothing. Can’t you see that?”

“Lucrezia, please get out of there.”

“No. The police won’t try anything with me in the house.”

“When I get there, I’ll change places with you.”

“No, Daddy. You don’t care about him like I do. You won’t protect him like I will.”

“Lucrezia, I’m terrified for you.”

“I’m safe with Cesare. He would never hurt me.”

“Not deliberately, but he has a gun. The police have guns. Oh, my darling, please. Think of your mother.”

“I’m very sorry for all of this, Daddy. But until Cesare is out of danger, I’m not leaving his side. Get us a lawyer. Goodbye, Daddy.”

Lucrezia hung up the phone and did not answer when Rodrigo frantically attempted to call her back.

“He’s sending us a lawyer, Cesare. It’ll be okay now.”

“I wish I could believe that, Sis. But I think I really fucked up this time. It’s not like back when I was a kid and boosted a car or kicked someone’s ass who had it coming to them. Petty ante stuff.”

She crossed over to the sofa and stood between Cesare’s thighs, bringing her cheek to rest against his hair.

“It’ll be okay, my love. I promise. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

He threw his arms around her waist

“I’m sorry I killed Alfonso.”

“He brought it on himself, Cesare. He shouldn’t have come at you. You did what you had to do. The police will see that. We’ll make them see that.”

“Did you want him?”

“I only want you. I only hooked up with Alfonso because you were with Charlotte. I thought you were through with me.”

“Oh, Sis! I was so stupid. It freaked me out that I felt like I did about you. That we did what we did. You were so cool about it, but I was ashamed. Why? Why didn’t I just go with it? Make us both happy?”

He began to cry, pulling her close to him and pressing his face to her bosom.

“I wrecked everything!”

“Cesare, my love, ssshh. We’ll get through this. Together. No matter what, we’ll be together. Nothing will ever keep us apart.”

“It’s such a mess. I’ll never get out of this. Tell me the truth. Dad isn’t getting an attorney, is he?”

“He didn’t say it in so many words, but I’m sure he is.”

“He isn’t. He and Mom are sick of me. Of getting me out of trouble. I’ll go to jail for the rest of my life.”

“You won’t. I promise you. I know what to do!  I’ll tell the police that I did it. That Alfonso tried to rape me and I shot him. I’m still a minor. They’ll go easier on me than they would on you.”

She felt his body go rigid. He drew his head back.

“No, Sis. I can’t let that happen. I’m a curse on your life. All I’ll do is drag you down with me.”

He stood and faced her, the Luger in his hand. He brought the barrel of the gun to his head. She screamed and dropped to her knees, her arms outstretched to him, her face contorted with anguish.

“Cesare, don’t. Please. I’m begging you. Don’t do this. I can’t live without you.”

“I love you, Sis,” he said, his eyes locked with hers, and then he pulled the trigger.

 

Blinded by tears, she sat on the sofa and stared down at him, sprawled on his back with his arms spread wide, his eyes open and glassy, and a widening puddle of blood staining the carpet under his head. A cry tore from her and she flung herself onto his body, half-expecting his arms to close around her in an embrace, as they had always done before.

He was truly gone. Beneath her hands, his skin was already growing cold.

Her lips trembling, she kissed his mouth, the beautiful, bow-shaped mouth which she had kissed countless times before, which had always responded to her, affectionately or ardently, soft with tenderness or hard with passion. Now there was no response. She gently passed her hand over his eyes, closing them.

_Oh, Cesare!_

The phone shrieked, startling her, making her jump. No doubt the police outside had heard the gunshot and were trying to assess the situation. She let the phone ring.

She took his big hand into her own and brought it to her lips.

_Cesare. My love. My only love._

There came a loud shattering of glass and a tear gas grenade smashed through the window, landing and spewing its noxious cloud just a few feet from her. She scrambled for Cesare’s Luger, pulling it out from underneath his body. She laid her head down upon his lifeless chest and murmured, “I love you, Cesare,” and then put the gun barrel into her mouth.

Just as the police, wearing gas masks, broke down the door, she pulled the trigger.


End file.
